


Inferior

by luvinpadfoot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Marauders' Era, Romance, young adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-25 13:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3813157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvinpadfoot/pseuds/luvinpadfoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If you want to see what a man’s like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” –JK Rowling</p>
<p>Mina Sherwood sees the way the Marauders treat those around them; the Slytherins, the Hufflepuffs, anyone they deem less intelligent or unworthy. When her best friend starts dating James Potter, a wedge is driven between their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You know what he brought me over the weekend?” Lily asked her best friend. She’d been droning on about James Potter for the whole meal and Mina’s eyes had glazed over. “Mina?”

“Hmm?” Mina asked as she was jolted from her daydreams.

“You’re not even paying attention,” Lily said sourly.

Even in her dazed state Mina knew her friend was more than a little upset. Lily wasn’t exactly known for her fiery temper, she preferred the cold shoulder, a passive aggressive approach. James Potter seemed to be the exception to that rule. He seemed to be an exception to a lot of rules lately. Hadn’t there been one about not dating a Marauder?

“I’m paying attention,” she said, attempting to remember the conversation. “What did he bring you?”

Lily sighed and picked at her food. “Never mind, it’s not important.”

It was definitely important to Lily. Mina wasn’t a stupid girl. She wasn’t quite as bright as her friend, but then again, who was? “What did he bring you?” She asked, trying to sound like an interested best friend.

“Lilies! Isn’t that adorable?” Lily was beaming widely, but Mina inwardly cringed. Flowers were fine, but lilies of all things? She guessed it was a little cute, but so obvious. She was surprised another guy hadn’t tried doing that. It was just too easy with a name derived from a flower.

“That’s lovely,” she said through a tight smile.

As though just looking for an opening, her friend began to go on about what exactly she and her boyfriend had done over the weekend. Nothing graphic- Lily wasn’t that kind of girl -but it was much more than Mina wanted to hear.

Lily had started dating James Potter almost the moment he was named Head Boy. It was like she’d been waiting for a reason ever since the fight with Severus in fifth year and then the mild restraint James had shown around her in sixth year. Lily called him a ‘reformed boy’.

Mina betted it was nothing more than Lupin telling him that he’d never get a date the way he was acting.

Whatever it was, Lily and James were now together and Lily hadn’t stopped blabbering about it since. She was always saying how sweet James was, how kind he was, how intelligent and funny and all around wonderful.

Sometimes Mina wondered if Lily remembered that this was the same guy who had pulled her pigtails in first year until she cried and refused to tie them back anymore. Or that he had shoved firecrackers into her schoolbag in second and dumped a pail of mud over her head in third.

Sometimes she wondered if Lily bothered to remember that these things had happened at all.

“Mina!” Lily’s voice was sharp and Mina was once again jolted from her thoughts. Even when Lily was talking about James Potter she wasn’t usually that spaced out. She’d been up late studying her Transfiguration notes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Mina said, trying to diffuse the situation as best she could. She’d had drawn out fights with Lily before, it was always best to head them off early. It was easier to calm Lily down than beg her forgiveness. She hadn’t spoken to Severus since fifth year and she had been as close with Severus as she was with Mina.

“You know how late I was up with my Transfiguration last night.” In reality, Lily probably didn’t know. She studied every night, but she was naturally bright and intelligent. She didn’t have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading over notes.

Lily sighed and nodded. “It’s alright, I know you work hard. Maybe instead of having our girls’ night you should get to bed early. I could always find something to do with James.”

“No!” That was the last thing Mina wanted. “I mean, I’ll be fine. Tomorrow’s Saturday, I can sleep in as late as I want.”

But Lily shook her head to this and Mina remembered that the Gryffindor Ravenclaw Quidditch match was the next day. She’d forgotten that Lily was interested in Quidditch now, in a way neither of them had been in the past.

James was not only the star chaser on the team, but also the captain. Mina sighed. Quidditch was fine, but it bored her. There was no reason for the whole school to be outside watching the game, obsessed with some sport when they could be sleeping in on a Saturday morning.

“I’ll let James know I’m free tonight so you can sleep,” Lily said, patting her friend on the arm. “You look exhausted.”

“I’ll be fine,” Mina argued, but it was pointless. Lily had made up her mind that it would be better for Mina to go to bed early. It was pointless to argue. Lily rarely changed her mind.

“I’d offer to spend my study period with you, but I’m meeting with a few of the Prefects,” Lily said with a slight shrug. She raised the goblet of pumpkin juice to her mouth, then stopped with a grin on her face. “James is here. I’ll go let him know we’re on for tonight. Catch you later?”

Mina nodded, but Lily hadn’t waited for her response. She sighed and pushed her lunch plate away, no longer hungry. She headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room as she had a break that period. Lily had potions with James, Severus, and a few of her other classmates.

Mina had wanted to continue with potions, but hadn’t received an E on her OWLs. She’d barely managed the E McGonagall required for Transfiguration, and only that with plenty of tutoring from Lily.

She set up half a table in the common room, sharing it with two third years who looked overloaded with work. Mina smiled as they frantically scribbled on notes on some parchment. Third year had been a good year, except for the mud incident in the Great Hall. The younger kids were probably working on something due next class. They had a frenzied air about them, desperate to finish.

She turned back to her own Muggle Studies essay, glad for once not to be rushed. She was a half blood and had grown up with two muggle grandparents so she wasn’t as ignorant of the muggle world as some of her classmates. She probably should have dropped the class, but it was nice to have an easy O in something.

“Budge up,” a coarse voice said. Mina glanced up and frowned when she saw Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew eyeing the two third years. “Do we have to say it twice?” Black asked.

The third years shook their heads, gathering their books and scurrying away. Black and Pettigrew took their seats on the other side of Mina’s table. They had a few textbooks with them, but they were too busy laughing and joking around to get any work done.

“That wasn’t necessary,” she said softly as she kept her eyes glued to her essay.

The boys stopped laughing and Black arched an eyebrow elegantly. “Are you talking to us, Sherman?” he asked.

Mina glanced up from her essay finally. She gulped. Black had grown bored of bothering with her and Lily after fourth year, but she felt thirteen again with mud covering her face and hair in the middle of the Great Hall, everyone around her laughing. “It’s Sherwood,” she said shakily.

“Like the forest?” Pettigrew asked.

Mina shrugged. “I guess.”

“Well listen, Sherwood-like-the-forest,” Black said in a mocking tone. “We’re seventh years. We’ve well earned the right to sit where we like in the Common Room without a few jumped up little third years getting in our way. Got it?”

Mina’s face reddened as it always did when Black spoke to her. “I only meant-”

“Save it, Sherwood,” Black said. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of work.” He dramatically opened a textbook and pointed at a particular part to Pettigrew, who laughed.

Mina bit her lip as she went back to her essay. She wasn’t brilliant like Lily, but she wasn’t stupid. They were making fun of her, although she didn’t know how. Still red in the face, Mina wrote a few more lines of her essay about muggle movies. It was a fun unit because over the summer she had to watch a few muggle movies. It hardly seemed like work at all.

“Where do we plant them?” Pettigrew was asking. Mina was once again distracted by the boys who weren’t bothering to keep their voices down.

“Outside his Common Room. We wait for him to come out and drop the load on his head.” Black smirked and Mina cringed. “He’ll smell like dung for a week.”

It seemed like their pranks hadn’t matured at all since third year. They were still dumping smelly and gross things onto people’s heads. “You shouldn’t do that,” she said, before realizing she’d spoken aloud.

“Are you kidding me?” Black asked incredulously. “I can do whatever the hell I want.”

“I’ll tell Lily.” It was an empty threat. Their target was Severus. Mina knew Lily wouldn’t do anything if Severus was involved. She had never forgiven him for calling her a mudblood two years before. She made it out to be like it was because of his Slytherin friends, but Mina knew Lily’s pride had been injured.

“Are you looking to get a few dungbombs dropped on your head?” Black asked. Mina shook her head mutely. “I thought so. Why don’t you go do your homework elsewhere? We could use the whole table.”

For a moment, Mina decided to stay. They couldn’t do anything to her, she was the Head Girl’s best friend. But then her confidence lagged and she grabbed her books and parchment, scurrying from the room much like the third years had just a few minutes before.

Black’s laughter followed her all the way up to her dormitory.


	2. Chapter 2

Mina decided not to tell Lily about the dung bombs. She shot looks over at the Slytherin table where Severus was eating with Mulciber and Avery. She thought about warning him, but they hadn’t spoken in over a year. It would be too awkward.

The Gryffindors were still celebrating over their Quidditch win two days before. Mina had avoided most of the celebrations as they centered around James Potter, captain and star chaser of the team. He was one step short of having a fan club.

Lily used to think the same way, but now she was as bad as the rest of them. She hung onto Potter’s every word as he retold the story of how he scored the winning points. Mina ate her eggs and toast alone, watching her friend from a distance.

The Marauders, as they so arrogantly called themselves, sat at the end of the table with their girlfriends. Mina felt nauseous every time she saw Lily laugh at something Black said. It was like their whole history with the Gryffindor blokes had been erased from Lily’s mind entirely.

Half of the Great Hall seemed to be staring at the Marauders enviously. Mina knew it was probably her imagination; not everyone wanted to be them. They had nearly as many enemies as they did friends, especially in the Slytherin House.

Mina glanced back over at Severus and was surprised to see him scowling in Lily’s direction. He’d always fancied her a bit, but Lily never seemed to notice. It must have added insult to injury to see Lily with his worst enemy.

She kept an eye on her watch until she could go to Transfiguration without being obscenely early. Still, by the time she got there only a few other students were in the room. Mina set up at her desk where she sat alone ever since Lily started sitting with James.

The only decent thing about the situation was that she wasn’t the only person in the class sitting on her own. Two Ravenclaws both had desks to themselves and the Marauders squeezed in three at a desk. McGonagall was fine with wherever they sat as long as they were relatively quiet.

The rest of the class drifted in and began pulling out their homework from the night before. The Marauders were, predictably, the last into the room, showing up just before McGonagall arrived. They were rarely late anymore, but Mina guessed that was Lily’s doing. She wouldn’t let anything, not even a relationship with James Potter, get in the way of her perfect marks.

McGonagall waved her wand without a word and instructions appeared on the board, much like in Potions class. “Human transfigurations today, you’ll need a partner.”

Mina cringed. Partner work was fine when she’d had Lily by her side, but now Lily was already whispering something in James’s ear. One of the Ravenclaws joined the other’s table and the three Marauders made no effort to move.

She was left alone at her table, keeping her eyes glued to the coarse wood. There was a chance, just a slim one, that McGonagall would overlook her. Mina shrunk down in her chair hoping that it would help. “Miss Sherwood, you cannot practice these spells on your own!” McGonagall eyed her through narrowed eyes. “Mr. Black, please join her over here.”

Mina’s face reddened. Of all the Marauders to be stuck with it had to be Black? Lupin wasn’t all that bad on his own. Why couldn’t he have been the one assigned to work with her?

“But Professor-” Black protested before McGonagall sent him a scathing look.

“When I want your opinion I will ask for it,” she said tensely. “Now move.”

He picked up his back and books and carried them over to Mina’s desk. His friends sent him sympathetic looks as he did so. McGonagall explained the spell, something from the previous year that Mina hadn’t quite managed to grasp. They were supposed to be growing facial hair on their partners, but nonverbally.

“So can we get this over with?” Black asked, pulling out his wand. It was made of a wood so dark it was almost black and about twice as thick as Mina’s own wand. She gripped hers tightly and nodded, not meeting Black’s gaze. “Fine, I’ll start.”

He raised his wand and Mina felt an instant tickling sensation on her face before hair began sprouting out. It grew until it was long enough for her to see that it matched her dirty blond hair exactly. Black was talented with spell work even if he didn’t put forth effort, something that only made Mina more disgusted with him.

He was one of the few to get the spell right on his first try, but most pairs had at least a little hair grown in various colors. “Nice mustache,” Black said with a smirk. “Your turn.”

Mina lifted her wand shakily and pointed it at his face, repeating the incantation over and over again in her head. Nothing happened, not even a light wisp of a beard. “Come on,” she murmured, holding her wand so tight her knuckles began to turn white. “Come on.”

“Merlin, Sherwood, it’s not that difficult,” Black said in an exasperated tone as he rolled his eyes. “Just give me thicker eyebrows or something.”

Mina nodded, but now she was so nervous she couldn’t focus on the spell. She’d like nothing better than to cover his whole face with thick hair, prove to him that she was just as talented, but she couldn’t even do something as simple as make his eyebrows thicker.

“Whisper the spell if you’ve got to,” he said when nothing happened. “Just- Merlin! Do something!”

Just about everyone in the room had grown copious amounts of facial hair in the forms of mustaches, beards, and eyebrows that grew to their shoulders. Most people were laughing, having a fun time with the project. Lily and James had gotten fancy, giving each other handlebar mustaches perfectly styled.

Mina was close to tears- or a panic attack. “I can’t.”

“It’s just a simple growth spell. We learned this last year. Merlin!” Black threw up his hands and turned away from her. “How did you even get in this class?” Mina’s eyes welled up. An insult from Black of all people shouldn’t have hurt her feelings, but it did.

They sat sullenly without speaking to each other for the rest of class and Mina put down her wand, only using it to remove the bear and mustache Black had given her. He bolted the moment the bell rang, joining his friends in the doorway. He gestured back at her and rolled his eyes, saying something about a squib that made James and Peter laugh.

Mina wiped her eyes. Normally she wasn’t that bad at magic. She had gotten into NEWT level Transfiguration, after all. It was just that particular spell and Black had stressed her out. She would have gotten it right if she’d been working with Lily instead.

Lily was waiting by the door for Mina who was one of the last out, except for a Slytherin who was speaking with McGonagall. “What happened?” She asked sympathetically.

Mina shrugged. She didn’t know what to say. Black was her boyfriend’s best friend, Lily wouldn’t take too kindly to complaints about him. “I just couldn’t get the spell right,” she muttered, keeping her eyes trained on her shoes. “No biggie.”

“Want to practice it during lunch? I’ve got Herbology in a minute, but we could do it then.” Mina shook her head. She wasn’t feeling in the mood for lunch. She’d do better to spend her free time in the library or her dormitory studying for Defense and Charms. “Alright.” Lily gave her best friend a searching look. “You sure you’re okay?”

Mina nodded her head. “Yeah. Tired.”

“Get some sleep tonight. You look like you need it.”

The glint in Lily’s eye changed Mina’s mind. She fell into step beside her friend in the corridor. Herbology met out in the greenhouse so there was plenty of time for her to say what she needed to say. “Can we talk? You won’t be late, I promise.”

“Sure,” Lily said, hoisting her bag higher on her shoulder. “Talk.”

“It’s about Po- James. Well, more his friends. Black, especially.” Mina stumbled through, trying to be as clear as possible. She should have planned in advance. She would have planned, but she’d decided not to say anything. “They were so mean to us for years. Why would you- why did you forgive them?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “In case you hadn’t noticed, they’ve matured since they played pranks on us. When was the last thing they did to us? Fourth year? Third? They’re eighteen now, not children.”

“They still do things like that,” Mina said. She didn’t think Lily really believed what she was saying. Of course they were the same boys who pranked them for years. “They have a plan to drop dungbombs on students exiting the Slytherin Common room.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mina,” Lily said with a frown. “They were probably talking about something they did years ago.”

“They were not! They’re going to do it sometime this week! Black and Pettigrew were laughing about how long it was going to take Severus to get the stink off his robes.” Lily froze and Mina realized her mistake. She shouldn’t have said Severus’s name. “Please, just listen to me!”

“I’m done talking about this,” Lily snapped, quickening her pace.

Mina jogged to catch up. “Black and Potter think they’re better than everyone else. They may have gotten older, but they never stopped being arrogant.”

“That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about.”

“Can you remember the last time Potter ever spoke to me? It certainly hasn’t been this year. He only associates with the highest class people at Hogwarts. People like you and Black.” Mina knew she’d crossed the line, but she didn’t know where to stop. Once she’d opened her mouth it was like everything she’d been thinking over the past few months spilled out.

“You want to go be friends with Snape? Be my guest. Have him teach you all the dark magic he knows, the curses he’s no doubt practiced on people. He’s probably got Death Eater friends outside of Hogwarts by now, bowing to You-Know-Who at night. If that’s the life you want, take it. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I are going to fight that kind of thing once we graduate.”

That wasn’t what Mina had meant at all. The Marauders were probably only joining the war because they thought it would make them heroes. They might do good things, but to her they were always going to be school bullies. 

“Lily-”

“I’ve got class, don’t wait around.”

Lily left Mina behind as she entered the greenhouse and Mina had the sickening feeling that her friendship with Lily was going to end up the same way Severus’s had.


	3. Chapter 3

It should have been relatively easy to find some way to have a conversation with Lily, however one sided it might be, but Mina couldn’t. They slept in the same dormitory, but Lily always managed to get in her bed before Mina and charm the perimeter to repel her.

On other nights Lily just waited for Mina to fall asleep before she came to bed and by the time Mina woke up she was always gone.

Of course Mina just assumed Lily came to bed at all. It was possible she was sleeping in the Common Room or with another year. She was Head Girl. She could do things like that.

Eventually Mina gave up. She accepted that Lily needed time, although this was the same way things had gone with Severus. She’d thought Lily just needed a bit of time and then she never spoke to him again. Mina didn’t want that to happen, but she didn’t know any other alternatives. Lily always did what she wanted.

After a while, she couldn’t take watching Severus from across the Great Hall anymore. She needed to talk to him, warn him of the Marauders’ plan. She wouldn’t approach him during mealtimes or when he was with his Slytherin friends, but she waited for him to be alone.

Severus was a loner at heart. He had few exceptions to that rule outside of necessity and Lily was one. Mina had never been one of those exceptions. He only allowed her around because Lily wouldn’t hear of pushing her away.

She found her opportunity when Severus broke away from his friends at breakfast and left for the library. She followed him until they were a good distance from the Great Hall, but not quite at the library. “Severus! Wait up!” She called, jogging to catch up with him.

He sneered at her, distaste on his face. “What do you want, Sherwood?” He wasn’t her biggest fan, but he’d never gone after her quite the way Black and his friends had. And he at least remembered her name after seven years.

“Black and his gang, they’ve got something planned.”

Severus looked suddenly tired and the sneer dropped from his face. “Oh.”

“I thought-” Mina cleared her throat awkwardly. This conversation was just as bad as she’d assumed it would be. “I thought you ought to know.”

“You did?”

Mina gulped and nodded. “They’re going to drop dungbombs on you outside of your common room.”

Severus had a look on his face that Mina couldn’t decipher. For a moment she thought he might thank her, but that wasn’t Severus’s style.

“Do you know what they did to me last month?” She shook her head, not at all sure she wanted to know. “They stuck a kick-me sign to my robes with a permanent sticking charm. I had to burn the robes to get it off. The month before that they left me hung up by my ankle in the library and the month before that they coated the insides of all my robes with a paste that glued them to my skin- but only after I’d put them on.”

Mina stared at him in horror. The Marauders had always pranked Snape, it was half the reason they’d gone after Lily and Mina as well. She hadn’t realized that their interest in him had progressed as his friendship with Lily failed. “That’s horrid! Have you gone to any professors? They’ll put an end to it.”

“When I want it to get worse I’ll go to the professors. Until then a few dungbombs aren’t the worst those blood traitors can dish out.” However much pity she felt for him, Mina couldn’t help cringing at the insult.

She wasn’t a pureblood like Black or Potter, rather a halfblood like Snape. Unlike him she didn’t put much stock in blood purity. “Don’t say things like that,” she said, refusing to meet his eyes. “You know blood status doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to some very powerful people,” Severus responded. “If you were smart it would matter to you too.”

“It never mattered where Lily was concerned.”

Severus looked away, the familiar sneer returning to his face. “I can’t be seen around you.”

“Wait!” Mina burst out, before realizing she didn’t have anything else to say. She just didn’t want him to leave so soon. Severus was the closest thing to a friend that she had. “When did they get so bad?” she asked.

“When Lily stopped being my friend in sixth year. When she stopped telling them to bugger off. When Potter began dating her.” He spat ‘Potter’ like it was a dirty word and Mina couldn’t blame him. She’d thought all of the things the Marauders did to her were horrible, but what they were doing to Snape was tenfold that, at least. “If you haven’t got anything else to say-”

Mina was too dumbfounded by his words to comprehend what he’d just said.

With a disgusted sigh, Severus walked around her and headed towards the library at the end of the corridor.

She wasn’t shocked by his attitude, but she had warned him about the Marauders’ prank. Was a simple thank you too much to ask? Mina turned back down the corridor and walked in the opposite direction. In all the years she’d known him, Severus never thanked anyone, not even Lily. Of course it was too much to ask.

 

Later that day, Mina was studying in the Common Room. It was rather crowded, but as NEWTs, OWLs, and end of year exams grew closer, even the younger students had quieted down. It was hard to make a peep without being shushed by some overworked fifth or seventh year.

Mina had her transfiguration book in front of her, silently going over the incantations and wand movements in her head. She hadn’t realized she was moving her hand until a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“What are you doing?”

Mina’s eyes flicked open and she flushed in embarrassment. “Nothing,” she muttered, lowering her empty hand. Her wand was laying on the desk, marking her place in the textbook.

“Didn’t look like nothing,” James Potter said as he skimmed the titles of the page she was reading. “This is pretty basic stuff. Just make sure you’re concentrating on the end product and it’s a piece of cake.”

Mine closed the book with a snap. She might need Transfiguration tutoring, but she certainly wasn’t going to accept help from James Potter. “What do you want?”

He shrugged. “My girlfriend’s upset and she won’t tell me what happened, but it’s clearly because of you.” Mina hated the way he said his girlfriend. Lily wasn’t his. They’d only been dating a few months. Lily had been her best friend first. “What happened?”

“Where’s Lily?” Mina hadn’t seen her around except at a distance and in class. It wasn’t difficult for her to merely sit with James all of the time instead of just some of the time. “She needs to talk to me.”

“No way.” James was shaking his head. “She doesn’t even know I’m talking to you. I just want to find out what happened so I can cheer her up. Care to explain?”

“You happened,” Mina muttered under her breath.

“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” James said, looking a bit surprised.

“I said ‘you happened’,” Mina repeated with a scowl. “Clear enough for you? We were perfectly fine together until you and your stupid friends came around.”

“A little testy, aren’t you?” He said with a smirk.

“Go away or shut up. Lynn Royal’s going to try to kick you out of the Common Room, Head Boy or not, if you keep this up.” The plump fifth year had fixed them both with a stare that would frighten a basilisk and her face had slowly begun to turn a delightful shade of purple.

James lifted his hand and gave her an apologetic wave before turning back to Mina and continuing their conversation in a much quieter tone. “She needs to lighten up.”

“She’s got OWLs.”

“OWLs,” he scoffed.

“And we have NEWTs.” That reminded Mina that she was supposed to be studying if she expected to pass her Transfiguration exam. At this rate it would take her an extra month just to get a grasp on the basics.

James ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture Mina found annoying. “NEWTs aren’t that bad and we’ve still got loads of time to prepare. Just tell me what happened with Lily and I’ll be out of your way so you can go back to er- A Study in Transfiguration. Sounds thrilling.”

“Leave me alone Potter,” Mina said, pulling the book out of his hands. She knew James Potter didn’t do a lot of studying, he and his friends were just naturally brilliant. The professors all loved them for that, despite their troublemaking.

“Not until you tell me what happened.” He pulled out the chair beside her and sat in it backwards, resting his arms on the back. “Come on, can you honestly resist the Potter charm?” He flashed her a smile which was clearly supposed to make her laugh, but Mina only felt disgusted.

He still thought he was god’s gift to women and the rest of the world, better than the mere mortals the rest of them were. “Go away,” she muttered, trying to study her book some more.

James pulled it from her grasp. “Come on, just tell me. I don’t care if you did something embarrassing. I just want to know what to say.”

“You know what? Fine. Fine! I’ll tell you! Lily started dating you. That’s it. That’s all that happened. Happy now?” Mina took a deep breath and realized what she’d just said. She hadn’t actually meant to tell James Potter anything. Outbursts like that weren’t usually her style.

She pulled her book from his hands and hugged it to her chest. James stared at her in surprise. “Me? I don’t get it. Lily and I are happy. What’s the problem?”

“You used to hate us. You were awful to us. That’s the problem,” Mina said. She’d already gone too far, she might as well keep going until James got it.

“I never hated you two,” he said with a laugh. “I think you’re mistaking me with someone else.”

“You used to always play pranks on us. Always. And- and do mean things to us in class. And tease us.” Mina’s began to water. She’d thought she was past crying where James Potter and his friends were concerned. She wanted to be past crying.

James shook his head. “I honestly haven’t got a clue what you’re on about,” he said.

Mina was shocked. She wasn’t just imagining all of that. She knew it had happened. She could hear people’s laughter as he intentionally spilled a potion over her bag in class, burning through her books. She scrambled for a good example. “You poured mud on us one morning at breakfast in the Great Hall. In front of everybody.”

His eyes widened and he laughed. “Oh Merlin, that’s what you’re on about? It was a joke when we were thirteen. Let it go.” He continued laughing as he exited the portrait hole, leaving Mina watching after him in shock.

Of all the reactions she’d pictured him having, that wasn’t one of them. It had been more than just a joke at the time. They’d only been in third year and didn’t know any good spells to get the mud off so they’d spent hours trying to wash it all out of their hair, not to mention their clothes.

And everyone had made jokes about it for weeks. Even the older students thought it was hilarious. They didn’t seem to care that the Marauders had lost Gryffindor fifteen points. They were just amused that two third year girls had mud dumped over their heads.

Mina shook her head to clear it from her thoughts. She’d moved on from that. She wasn’t a little third year anymore. James Potter and Sirius Black didn’t care about her anymore. She could study for Transfiguration in peace.

She opened her book again to the incantations she’d been going over and continued to memorize the spells.

It was difficult to focus as her thoughts flew back to third year and all the years and the teasing she’d endured. As much as Mina tried, the memories wouldn’t go away and continued to interrupt her studies for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

“We’re going to be late to breakfast,” a thirteen year old Lily protested as Mina stopped to tie her shoe in the corridor. She’d overslept again and Lily was more than a bit annoyed. “And if we’re late we won’t have time to meet Severus in the library before class.”

“I know, I know. There.” She stood up and smiled at her best friend. “Now we can go.”

“You better eat fast,” Lily said as they entered the Great Hall. “Or I’m leaving you behind this time.”

Mina grinned at her. Lily always threatened to leave her behind, but she never would. There were already a number of people eating breakfast, although many of the older students skipped it on a regular basis. Even the Marauders, the four awful boys in their year, were there.

Lily followed her best friend’s gaze and scowled at the boys. “Ignore them. Mum says they’ll lose interest if we ignore them.” Mina nodded and pulled her eyes away from them.

“Do you-” Mina began, but she was cut off when something warm and wet dripped on her head.

She looked up and Lily did the same, only to see a large bucket of mud turn on its side and pour its contents over their heads.

Both girls shrieked as they were caught in the mud bath. It splashed everywhere, coating their robes and covering their hair and faces.

Peals of laughter erupted from the four Marauders. After a moment, the rest of the Great Hall joined in. Mina was frozen, her face bright red under the mask of mud on her face. Lily burst into tears and ran through the doors, her shoes squelching with every step she took.

Mina remained in the entrance, unable to move a single step. The laughter surrounded her, growing louder until it drowned out even her own thoughts. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe. All she heard was the laughing.

Mina sat up in her bed, her heart racing a mile a minute. It took her a moment to remember that she was eighteen now and a seventh year. Third year was a long time ago.

But no matter how many times she told herself those things, she couldn’t shake the feeling of the sticky mud running down her back and the echoes of her classmates rang in her ears. Mina’s hands shook as she tied her hair off her sweaty neck.

She didn’t often have nightmares. It hadn’t been that bad, just that one morning in front of the whole school.

It was early in the morning, too early for even the most studious people to have awoken, so Mina dressed quietly and trudged down to the Common Room. The sun hadn’t yet risen, but the fire gave off a soft light that warmed the room.

Mina could have easily lit her reading with her wand, but she could read quite comfortably without it. She’d only just settled into her latest Transfiguration textbooks when she heard voices that sent a chill through her bones.

“I thought we were gonna get caught there for a moment,” said the first.

“If we get caught we’re all expelled,” said another. “I can’t be-”

“Would you two hush up? You’re not exactly keeping your voices down.”

The other two boys fell silent, then the first spoke up again. “We wouldn’t get expelled for that.”

“Padfoot!” The portrait hole swung open and Mina stared at the empty space. She’d heard the four Marauders, she would know their voices anywhere. Where had they gone? She thought she maybe heard a creak of the steps, but there was no one there.

Mina shook her head. All of that was back in third year. The Marauders didn’t bother with her anymore. She needed to stop imagining them where they weren’t and recreating scenarios in her head that had already happened. It was over.

The image of the two third years Black had forced to move so he and his friend could sit at the table popped into her head unbidden. It may have been over for her, but Black still treated everyone like he was a king and they merely his servants.

The whole group of them had always thought they were so much better than everyone else, even giving their little group a stupid name. The Marauders. The arrogance just radiated off of them.

And the worst part of it was that they were smart and talented and attractive. Mina was sure all of their marks were higher than hers and she’d never seen Black or Potter bother to crack a book, let alone take notes during class. It was infuriating to say the least.

Mina realized she was gripping the book so tightly that the pages were being pulled from the spine and her fingers had left indents in the soft cover. She immediately relaxed her fingers and lay her head on the desk.

She was so tired. It wasn’t yet dawn and she’d gone to bed late from studying again. As Mina began to doze her thoughts flew back to the conversation she’d heard- imagined. A small smile graced her face. If only the Marauders did something that got them expelled. Then maybe their egos would drop a few notches. Or at least people might stop worshipping them.

~*~

Mina had grown tired of sitting around indoors studying all week. She had to study, that couldn’t be changed, but at least she could have a change of scenery. She took her schoolbag filled with all the books from the classes she had the most trouble with- Transfiguration, Defense, and Ancient Runes with a few notes for Charms thrown in the mix as well.

Transfiguration was the most difficult application class, but Ancient Runes was only theory and it was a difficult theory at that. Since she’d spent so much time trying to learn the Transfiguration spells, Mina opened her Ancient Runes textbook once she was settled under a comfortable tree and began to memorize the translations.

NEWT classes were difficult for everybody, including Lily, but Mina felt sometimes that she had to put in extra effort for very little reward. Her mind just didn’t wrap around the knowledge the way that Lily’s did.

After about an hour of studying, Mina shifted her position and glanced around. Several other students seemed to have had the same idea as her and were taking advantage of the nice weather by studying outdoors, or even taking a break from studying if they didn’t have NEWTs or OWLs to worry about.

OWLs hadn’t been pleasant for Mina. Two weeks before exams started she’d had breakdown and had to be administered a Calming Draught every night until they began. With the nightmares and the imaginary conversations she was afraid that would happen again.

The only good thing was that fifth year had been after the Marauders lost interest in her and Lily. They weren’t around to tease her about it, although some of the other students had. She was determined to remain calm this year, or go to Madame Pomfrey earlier if she needed the draught.

None of the other students seemed bothered by the prospect of exams except for their increased studying habits. By seventh year they had grown used to the idea of exams, even if these were the big ones.

The younger students didn’t appear too disturbed. It was usually the fifth years who were the distraught ones and most of them spent their time huddled in dark, quiet corners of the library. Mina didn’t spy any of them outside, although there were plenty of younger students and sixth and seventh years.

In particular, a few younger Slytherins seemed to have taken up residence under one of the trees. There were three of them, two boys and a girl, who looked to be in their fourth year. Old enough to remember that particular tree was a favorite hangout of the Marauders who took great offence whenever anyone else sat on it.

There wouldn’t have been a problem except Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin were making their way over to the tree. They stopped in front of the younger students and scowled at them. Black twirled his wand menacingly.

“Do we have to spell it out for you lot? This makes twice. Get your slimy little Slytherin arses back to the castle before we decide to stop playing nice and start hexing you,” Black said. Pettigrew backed him up, although Lupin looked more than a little ashamed of his friends- and probably himself as well.

Mina scowled and tried to go back to her runes, but her attention remained on the inevitable fight.

One of the Slytherin boys looked like he’d prefer to just leave the tree to the older boys, but his two friends seemed rather stubborn. The girl had her hands on her hips and was talking furiously as though she was giving the Marauders a lecture on school rules, although her voice was so low Mina couldn’t hear what she was saying.

Mina could have told her to save her breath. The Marauders, Black especially, felt that school rules existed only to be broken. He’d probably broken just about every rule Filch had written down in all his years as caretaker.

The other Slytherin boy must have said something because Black instantly turned his wand on him. His incantation was silent, but the boy was instantly ripped into the air and dangled by one leg.

Mina recognized the hex as their signature move. They’d used it on Severus loads of times, including when he’d gone off on Lily. She’d never been a victim of it herself, but it looked none too pleasant. And the boy was only a fourth year.

Making up her mind quickly, Mina dropped her books and stalked over to the three Marauders and their victims. “Stop it, stop it right now!” She said, her voice shrill.

Black looked at her in surprise. “Get lost, Sherwood,” he muttered once he recognized her.

Mina ignored his words. If she backed off now it would do more harm than good. She’d be endlessly mocked for being a coward, despite being a Gryffindor. She’d been sorted there for a reason. “Put him down!” Her voice was steady, though her hands shook. She wiped her sweaty palm on her robe and gripped her wand tighter.

“Or what? You’re going to curse me? I think I’ve seen what you can do with that thing.” He laughed and Mina’s stomach dropped. He had seen her fail before, what if she failed again? “Frankly I wonder how you got into Hogwarts sometimes. Haven’t witnessed you perform magic before. Maybe you and Filch should get together, join that little squib’s club of his.”

Mina hadn’t known Filch was a squib, but her face burned. She may not have been the most talented in Transfiguration, but she certainly wasn’t a squib.

The younger boy’s face was beginning to turn red as he hung upside down, struggling to get free. “Put him down,” she repeated, raising her wand. Mina wasn’t sure what she planned on doing to Black, but she couldn’t just let him keep going.

“Maybe you’d like to join him in the air, then,” Black said, raising his wand to meet hers.

“Sirius.” Lupin was looking a little sick as he stepped up beside his friend and fellow Marauder. “Maybe we should just go inside, see what James is up to.”

Black shook him off. “You’re going to let her scare you away?” He said ‘her’ like she was something dirty, worse than the dirt under his feet even.

Lupin shook his head, but walked off anyway. Apparently it was too much for him as a Prefect. Mina should have felt better now that there were only two of the Marauders left, but Black was talented and Pettigrew wasn’t half bad himself, not that he could quite measure up to his friends.

Lily, back when she was still friends with Mina, had several good things to say of Lupin, always insisting that they call him Remus. He’d never done things to them the way the other three Marauders had. He was quiet and intelligent, more solemn.

But he could have stopped them, Mina always argued back. He could have done something.

Instead he sat there and watched or read his book or studied or even walked away as he did now. Even after he became a Prefect he turned a blind eye to everything his friends did. In Mina’s opinion that made him just as bad as the rest of them, maybe even worse.

“Finite incantatem,” Mina murmured as she pointed her wand at the dangling boy. He fell to the ground with a crash and she cringed. She hadn’t thought to soften his landing, not that he’d fallen more than two feet.

“What did you do that for?” Black asked. “I was teaching him a lesson. No one sits under our tree. It’s practically sacred.”

Mina shook her head. She’d had enough of lying down for Black and his friends. “You can’t go around hexing people because they’re sitting where you want to sit,” she said.

“Course I can,” Black said with a smirk. “Especially when they’re filthy Slytherins.”

“Gryffindors aren’t better than everyone else,” she responded. “You aren’t better than everyone else.”

The three Slytherins must have left, but Mina hadn’t noticed them leaving. She’d been too focused on Black.

“I’m not?” He looked bored, toying with his wand as though he knew she didn’t have the guts to hex him.

“No!” It was his tone more than anything that made her angry. He was playing with her, trying to upset her even. It was all a game to him. “You always do this! You always treat everyone like they’re- like they’re beneath you! Like they’re worthless because they might not be as smart as you or in your House or because they don’t believe the same things as you!”

Black looked mildly surprised by her outburst, but no more. “And I assume you're classifying yourself in the same category as those I deem worthless, would that be correct?”

“Yes.” Mina knew he was playing some kind of game. He had a smirk on his face, but she wasn’t going to back down.

There were people watching, other students. No one crowded around, but people only did that when there was a physical fight happening. This was just an argument, no one wanted to get pulled in on the wrong side even if they did want to know the outcome.

“So what exactly makes you, to use your own words, worthy of my attention?” Black asked.

Mina was taken aback by the question. “Wha-what?” She asked, confused.

“You said it yourself, you’re not as smart as me. You can barely use magic. Let’s be honest, you’re not much of a looker.” Pettigrew sniggered behind him and Mina felt her face burn. “How exactly are you not beneath me?”

“I’m not-” Mina broke off. She didn’t have an answer. She didn’t know what the correct answer was. Black, Pettigrew- all of them thought they were better than other people. And they were. “It’s still not right. You’ve got- We’re all people. We all have thoughts and feelings and-”

Black let out a bark of laughter. “If you wanted feelings mumbo jumbo you’d have been better off as a bumblebee in Hufflepuff. Why aren’t you in Hufflepuff, by the way?”

Mina had wondered that herself sometimes, but for once in her life she had an answer. “I had the guts to stand up to you, didn’t I?”

Black blinked at her in shock. Finally she’d managed to shake him of his cool arrogance.

But her courage could only last her so far. Already Mina felt nauseated. Her stomach was cramped and she could tell she was going to vomit. She fled from the grounds before Black had a chance to respond and into the nearest girls’ lavatory where she dry heaved for several minutes.

The shakes set in as she finally got control of her stomach. She sat huddled in the corner of the stall, terrified of what she’d done.

It hadn’t seemed like much at the time. The adrenaline coursing through her veins had eliminated any logic in her brain. She’d yelled at Sirius Black in front of a third of the school. She’d embarrassed him, even. That wasn’t something he would forget for a while.


	5. Chapter 5

NEWTs grew closer and Mina didn’t have time to worry about Sirius Black. She was all consumed by studying and minor panic for her last set of examinations in her school career.

Once Mina found herself babbling incoherently in the middle of the night after studying for six hours straight and Stasia Runicon, one of her Gryffindor year mates, had to drag her down to Madam Pomfrey for a Calming Draught.

She was at least able to sleep after that and made her way sluggishly through the rest of her classes.

As exams approached, Lily made no effort to renew their friendship. Mina had expected that and certainly couldn’t do it on her own. Lily was stubborn and the cold shoulder was her classic. She hadn’t spoken to Severus since sixth year and hadn’t spoken to her own sister whom she lived with during the Holidays since before fourth year.

Doubtless she’d heard about Mina confronting Sirius Black out on the Grounds, but Mina couldn’t decide if that was in her favor or not. Lily hadn’t liked hearing her go off on Black and Potter, but maybe it was different if she did it to their faces.

Or maybe it was worse.

Either way, Mina didn’t have time to think about it much until after exams. For all the studying she’d done the past several months, exams were over in a heartbeat. She found herself walking out of her last exam, Transfiguration, feeling a bit dazed and confused.

All of the other seventh years who had finished so far seemed to feel the same. The Marauders were of course throwing a party in the Gryffindor Common room, but even that wasn’t until Saturday night. For the rest of the day and most of the next Mina didn’t have to worry about a thing. She didn’t even have an afternoon exam that day as the last official one was Potions.

Instead she meandered around Hogwarts, not doing anything in particular. Everyone who didn’t have a Potions NEWT seemed a bit shell shocked. No fewer than six of Mina’s classmates stopped her in the corridors for conversations.

By the time she decided to skip dinner and go back to the girls’ dormitory she was thoroughly confused. She and Lily had never exactly been popular and even less so now that Lily was Head Girl and Mina was no longer friends with her.

Mina figured they were all so sleep deprived and distraught from exams that they didn’t know what they were doing. It was the only explanation for all the attention she was getting.

Strangely it felt rather nice. Mina found herself speaking to a sixth year Ravenclaw who looked utterly bewildered by the situation for no other reason than she saw him walking down the corridor at the same time she was. It was all rather odd.

She reached the dormitory and decided her own dazed, weightless feeling was due to lack of sleep. She had been functioning on next to no sleep for over a week and shorter nights before that.

She stumbled into the seventh year girls’ dormitory and was surprised to see she wasn’t the first in there. Lily was curled up on her bed snoring softly, clearly having conked out immediately after her Potion’s exam.

Mina hadn’t spent much time with her friend, but she was certainly sleeping as though she hadn’t in quite some time. She couldn’t ever recall seeing her friend look so unconscious. Lily was usually a light sleeper.

But she was always obsessed with her marks. Nothing short of an Outstanding was good enough for her. Lily had probably been studying night and day for their NEWTs just like Mina had.

She took a step closer and drew the drapes around Lily’s bed shut. She had been too tired to do them herself apparently. Mina wondered if it was a sign Lily wasn’t hiding from her anymore or just that the girl was too exhausted to remember to close them herself.

Either way, Mina noticed the dark circles under Lily’s eyes and turned the light off in the room, treading quietly to her own bed. She was sure the other girls would be up soon to sleep as studying had stressed them all to the breaking point.

Almost as soon as she pulled the covers up around her neck Mina fell into a deep slumber.

~*~

The next afternoon Mina was trying to decide whether or not to go to the Marauders’ party. It was for all of the Gryffindor seventh years meaning the four of them, Albert Pennicott, Seb Polemer, Geoffrey Hamilton, and Mina’s five roommates.

As Marauder parties went it was a rather small one. She had no desire to be taunted by Black again, although she wasn’t sure if he even remembered their argument on the grounds. He hadn’t mentioned it or even spoken to her since then.

Stasia, who had spoken to Mina several times since she took her down to Madam Pomfrey’s for a Calming Draught, had specifically invited so she felt welcome, but Mina still wasn’t sure. She and Stasia weren’t exactly friends, but they had a mutual understanding.

And Mina thought Stasia probably felt sorry for her since it was clear she was no longer on speaking terms with Lily.

Eventually Mina decided to go. At the worst she could just head on back up to the dormitories if things got out of hand or if she got too tired. She’d slept for fourteen hours the night before, but even that couldn’t make up for all the nights she’d stayed up past three studying for Transfiguration or Ancient Runes.

The younger students weren’t exactly welcome, but because the party was so small no one bothered to kick them out. Besides, it was the Common Room. Technically none of them were supposed to be awake, but they were all welcome to break the rules together.

Somehow the Marauders had snuck in a few bottles of champagne. Mina had no idea how they’d gotten it past Filch. “To graduation!” Potter said, taking a swig of one bottle.

“To the end of NEWTs!” Shouted Pettigrew, already a bit buzzed.

“To seventh year!”

“To the future!”

“To no more school!”

“To us!”

The last cry came from Black. Foamed poured over the mouth of the bottle as he past it off to Melody, one of Mina’s roommates who had once dated him. There were apparently no hard feelings as she took a deep swig herself.

Even Remus was drinking and Lily had procured a small glass from somewhere and was having a few sips. Mina shook her head as Stasia offered a bottled to her. “Come on, let loose a little,” the girl said.

Mina was tempted, she couldn’t deny that, but if Dumbledore, or worse McGonagall, caught them she’d prefer to be sober. “I’ll sit this round out.”

“Suit yourself.” Stasia shrugged and drank some more before heading over to where Albert sat. He was her boyfriend of over a year and it was common knowledge that they planned on renting a flat together after graduation.

Mina didn’t know Albert that well, except once she had gotten notes from him in Muggle Studies when she’d been sick in the Hospital Wing with the flu. He was a nice bloke, nothing like the Marauders he shared his dormitory with.

Suddenly a large body planted itself on the sofa beside her. “You’ve befuddled my best mate,” James Potter said, not quite smiling although not looking upset either. “And made my girlfriend crazy.”

Mina shrugged. She didn’t understand Potter. Did he want her to deny it? Explain why? “Yeah, I guess.”

When a moment passed without him saying anything, Mina looked over and was surprised to see that he was covering a laugh. “You’re a very strange girl, you know that?”

“There’s nothing strange about me,” Mina said, stiffening.

“Sure there isn’t. See you around, Sherwood.” He disappeared before Mina knew what to say. What did one say to something like that? She’d never liked James Potter before, but now she wondered if he was perhaps a little touched in the head.

Looking around the room, Mina noticed Black flirting Melody and Albert and Stasia kissing on one of the sofas. If it was going to turn into that kind of party she certainly wasn’t going to be sticking around for much longer.

Spying Lily over in the corner alone, Mina decided to take a chance and walked over to her. “Hey.”

Lily looked up, surprised, and gripped her champagne glass a little tighter. “Hi.” Her voice sounded small, but Mina wasn’t sure if that was just her own imagination. “I-I shouldn’t have told you to go be a Death Eater,” Lily said, not making eye contact.

Mina nodded. It wasn’t a full apology, but it was the best she would get from Lily. “I’m not sorry for what I said about Potter and Black.”

“I know.” It was Lily’s turn to nod.

They stood in silence for a moment more and Mina sighed. She’d never wanted things to go like this. “Right,” she muttered. That was as good as the end of their friendship, especially now that they were going their separate ways outside of school. “I’ll see you around then,” she said, walking off.

“I really am sorry,” Lily murmured quietly, but Mina didn’t bother turning around. Everything was already screwed up, a half apology wasn’t going to change anything. Neither of them was truly sorry about what they said and they both knew it.

But Mina wasn’t ready to leave yet. Talking to Lily made her want champagne. If the Head Girl could break the rules then she certainly could as well. She chickened out before walking up to the Marauders, though. She couldn’t stand the thought of talking to them. Even Lupin gave her the chills.

Instead Mina shuffled around the room and stood awkwardly over by the steps. She wasn’t quite prepared to slip away yet, but she knew the time would come soon.

“Want some champagne?” Black asked as he was making rounds around the room. Seemingly he had untangled himself from Melody who was talking to Lupin and looking more than a bit sullen.

Mina shook her head. She wouldn’t take anything from him, although she might have said yes if Stasia offered again. “I don’t drink.”

“Of course you don’t,” he replied sarcastically. “Because why should you be any fun at all?”

“At least I’m a decent human being,” Mina shot back. She was tired of seven years of Black’s jabs, seven years of him thinking he was better than everyone else except for Potter.

“Ouch, that really hurts.” Black was smirking and Mina scowled harder. She didn’t like him laughing at her. “So what you said on the grounds the other week-”

“I meant every word,” Mina said sincerely. “You treat people like dirt, the way the old pureblood families treat their house elves. You think you’re god’s gift to the world. You think you’re clever and witty and oh so funny, but all you really are is mean. I for one am tired of letting you walk all over me, like I’m less than you. You treat people like Lily fine because they’re deemed worthy of your attention, but you treat me like I’m scum. That’s how I know you’re a real git.”

Black was eyeing her with something akin to respect. “Maybe I underestimated you,” he said. “That’s a sharp tongue you’ve got there.”

Mina shook her head. All that and he’d missed her point completely. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it? You wanted to be worthy of me, didn’t you?” He looked so arrogant and serious that Mina wanted nothing more than to slap it off his face, but that wouldn’t do.

“People shouldn’t have to be worthy of someone else. That’s not the way things work,” she said.

Sirius shrugged. “Isn’t it, though?” He smirked at her, grabbed his bottle, and stood somewhat shakily. “I’ll be seeing you around, Sherman.”

He was already flirting with Melody by the time Mina realized what he’d said to her. “It’s Sherwood,” she muttered quietly. “Sherwood like the forest.”

With that she stood from the chair and headed up the steps to her dormitory. Whatever she’d been trying to prove by being down there wasn’t important. She’d attended the party, she’d spoken to Lily and Potter and Black. She was half packed already and prepared to head home, never to see any of them again.

Mina flicked the light off with her wand and curled up in her bed. Hogwarts would soon be over. Maybe Sirius Black would never change, he’d never understand the real point she was trying to make, but at least she wouldn’t have to see him anymore. After leaving Hogwarts she would never have to deal with him again.

“Sherwood,” she muttered quietly as she began to sleep. “Like the forest.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two lines of dialogue from Sirius are quotes from JKR’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, page 525.

“She’s got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

Something about those words struck Sirius as awfully familiar. He rubbed a hand over his unshaven face as he thought.

It was something from long ago, before Azkaban. Someone had told him that. Sirius shook his head to clear his mind. No one had said anything of the sort to him. The noble house of Black didn’t have any equals in the mind of his bloody old mum.

The three teenagers looked at him with watchful eyes. They didn’t have anyone else to turn to for help and they were running out of time. Sirius pushed the thought out of his mind. “All these absences of Barty Crouch’s…”

It was only later after Harry and his friends had gone that Sirius remembered.

Sherwood, like the forest.

He hadn’t thought of Mina Sherwood in years. It only took the one memory to fill him with guilt, though. She’d been right all those years ago, even if he discounted then.

He remembered the last conversation they’d had at that casual party the Marauders had thrown.

That’s not what I meant, she’d said.

At the time Sirius hadn’t thought anything of it. Now he thought he understood. It hadn’t been about her so much as it had been about him.

He trotted down the road in his dog form, and for the first time in weeks, was too wrapped up in his thoughts to even beg for scraps.


End file.
